They came creating a noisy chorus of high-pitched thin whistles, and taking me by surprise when they left, an unexpected number of easily 20, the biggest I've seen so far, tiny ones fleeing together like a swarm of bees.
But it was far from easy to get even two together, at the speed they moved from twig to twig, flora cascade to cascade.
An infrequent visitor so much so that it's not immediately recognisable for the distance, leading to a common birder's mistake of dismissing one as a familiar common bird, sigh!
Where are the visitors that normally tagged along with these locals, although we conveniently forget these are our loyal and local stars, always there, never fail to appear if one is patient.
It may be the same story in and out, but it's the very same story that give us these birds, right at our doorstep but oh, but we so miss and yearn for that little grey one, that black and white one too, also that brown one, oh where art thou, that we only see you once a year.
The smaller beings that contribute to the food chain, that are part of the cycle of life, so easily missed, under-appreciated till pointed out - grasshoppers, planthoppers, bugs, moths, butterflies, etc of dazzling combinations of hues and colours, yet the very perfect camouflage of the plants they visit and feed on.
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| Black-kneed meadow katydid |
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| Rice grasshopper (Oxya japonica) |
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| Monkey Hopper (Erucius sp) |
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It was not there for me to admire, to pursue.
It was parental duty.
Under the watchful eyes of another parent.
And soon it will grow handsome too like its parent.
